WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
1/13 Superstars TV results: JTG & Chris Masters over Chavo Guerrero & Curt Hawkins; Gail Kim over Alicia Fox; and Yoshi Tatsu, Primo, David Hart Smith & Darren Young over The Usos, Zack Ryder & William Regal.
Smackdown tonight has Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger; Big Show vs. Wade Barrett; Rey Mysterio & R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio & Cody Rhodes; Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool; Trent Barreta vs. Drew McIntyre; and a Cutting Edge segment with Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero as the guests.
WWE is back on the road this weekend boosted by the returning John Cena who injured his hip/leg in December. The Raw crew runs tonight in Chattanooga, TN (University Of Tennessee McKenzie Arena) headlined by Cena vs. Miz vs. Punk, followed by Beaumont, TX (Ford Park Event Center) on Saturday, and Shreveveport, LA (Hirsch Memorial Coliseum) on Sunday which is a dual brand Supershow. Smackdown also runs Saturday in Wichita Falls, TX (Kay Yeager Coliseum) with Edge vs. Kane on top.
Raw is live on Monday from Little Rock, AR (Verizon Arena) with Cena vs. Punk as the main event, and the Smackdown/NXT taping is Tuesday in Tulsa, OK (Bank Of Oklahoma Center).
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Tickets for the Hall of Fame ceremony in Atlanta on 4/2 go on sale tomorrow through the Philips Arena Box Office. There was also an Internet presale today using the password 'legend' on Ticketmaster. Vince McMahon was quoted in a press release as saying, "Shawn Michaels was the best in-ring performer in the history of WWE.” Note the wording of that statement.
Shane Helms ripped on Michaels on Twitter following Monday's Hall of Fame announcement. He wrote, "The HOF is great but I take more pride & comfort in the fact that I've never "screwjobbed" ANYONE in life or the biz! $$$ isn't everything." Later, Chris Jericho wrote that Michaels was the greatest performer of all-time. Helms then re-tweeted Jericho's words and added: "BS! Flair did more & got more people over... If u got something to say, say it public. Enough ass-kissing. He wasn't the greatest when he was cussing u out in catering." Helms continued his rant saying that Flair got other people over while Michaels only got himself over during the last decade. "I'm sorry being honest comes off bad on Twitter, I'm not hating, I'm stating FACTS!! Facts that I would swear by on my life. And wearing a cross doesn't make u right. Hitler wore one too! Don't be FOOLED by a TV persona!! I'm always honest. NO ONE can accuse me."
WWE officially announced Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler for the World title on 1/30 at the Royal Rumble in Boston.
The WWE website has a Where Are They Now? feature with Tammy "Sunny" Sytch discussing her start in wrestling, her popularity, Chris Candido's passing, and much more at http://tinyurl.com/4o2vqx9. She says she would love another run and feels she could pull off a great program with Vicki Guerrero.
Triple H and Evan Bourne, whom have been on injured reserve for several months, were both listed on booking sheets provided to Madison Square Garden for the Raw show on 3/19.
More good news for fans in Germany. Sky Deutschland is expected to announce next week that Smackdown will debut as a two-hour show from March airing Friday nights on Sky Sports.
The next FCW evaluation camp was announced for March 4-7 in Tampa. More info at www.fcwwrestling.info.
Tyson Kidd's storyline bodyguard Jackson Andrews was sent back to developmental for more seasoning.
ROH wrestler Colt Cabana on his latest Art of Wrestling podcast talked about his time in developmental. He noted a few years ago that the Bella Twins called Johnny Ace and threatened to quit if they weren't called up to the main roster. Cabana said the very next day they were put on the road. Cabana joked that he probably would have been fired a lot sooner if he tried the same tactic. Cabana's podcast is available to download at www.welovecolt.com.
Superstars on Thursday night did a 0.58 rating and 606,000 viewers.
Ted DiBiase Jr. at http://tinyurl.com/479gdkr talks life on the road and the toll it's already taken on his body. He praises the company on the concussion issue. "WWE does an excellent job especially in the area of head injuries, as far as concussions. I know I was actually slapped in the face one night and it knocked me out. I had a mild concussion and they would not let me wrestle for three weeks to a month. I did other things in the show, but they wouldn't let me perform in the ring. That's the thing, as a company, we take very serious now. We go through a lot of steps, a lot of tests and stuff and we have our doctors who are certified to handle us and make the call. We're taken care of."
Political bloggers in Connecticut claim Linda McMahon is talking to the Republican Senatorial about making another run for public office. She is giving a keynote speech on 1/20 at a Republican Party function in Fairfield. This will be her first high-profile public appearance since losing the Connecticut Senate race two months ago.
NFL great and one-time Wrestlemania headliner Lawrence Taylor plead guilty to two misdemeanors related to his rape arrest last year as part of a plea agreement that'll include him registering as a sex offender. Taylor, 51, admitted in court to paying a 16-year-old runaway for sex last May but did not admit to knowing how old she was. Full story at http://tinyurl.com/6e2hj8u.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
1/13 Impact TV results from Orlando, FL: Beer Money over Machine Guns to retain the tag titles; Angelina Love & Winter over Madison Rayne & Tara to retain the Knockout tag titles; Abyss over Matt Morgan in a non-title match; and Matt & Jeff Hardy over Rob Van Dam & Mr. Anderson.
TNA is back on the road this weekend starting tonight in Reading, PA (Sovereign Performing Arts Center) with Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Jarrett plus Kurt Angle as special referee. They also run Saturday in Upper Marlboro, MD (Show Place Arena) and Sunday in Hagerstown (Maryland Theatre). The crew then have a few days rest ahead of the European tour. More info at www.tnaliveevents.com.
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Dixie Carter announced an Impact taping on 2/24 in Fayetteville, NC at the Crown Coliseum. The company drew a capacity crowd in that building for the chosen figuration last summer with Jeff Hardy as the headline act. A local promoter described Fayetteville to us as a "comp town" and is known as such not only for wrestling but all types of entertainment events because of the large military population that will fill any empty seats. My impression is that they are building to an Immortal/Fortune feud against the returning Main Event Mafia, and wanted a big show atmosphere outside of Orlando to kick off the new storyline. As noted, Steiner just started back, Sting is said to be close, nothing yet confirmed on Booker T, and Kevin Nash wrote on Twitter yesterday that he's retired and won't be returning.
Impact on Thursday night did a 1.25 rating and 1.73 million viewers. Q1 was the highest rated quarter doing a 1.41 which may indicate interest in Matt Hardy. The show drew it's highest viewership since last October.
Ring of Honor's El Generico and TJ Perkins both worked tryout matches this past week at the television tapings as did 20-year-old Thea Trinidad who wrestles on Northeast indies as Divina Fly. WWE recently took a look at Fly in New York but passed feeling she was a long way from being ready for developmental less than a year in.
Sean "Val Venis" Morley ripped Matt Hardy in a new video blog and on his Twitter, calling him talentless and saying he now works in TNA because of his brother, and not because anyone wanted to see him here. Video at http://tinyurl.com/65xhbaf.
Christy Hemme is planning to release a yoga/pilates workout DVD with the working title of "Hemmesphere" a takeoff on "Stratusphere" by Trish Stratus.
The rumors elsewhere regarding the demise of the X-Division are completely untrue. Dixie Carter said today that she is planning to "beef up" the division with both familiar and new faces.
A 2/24 scheduled house show in Wilson, NC was canceled due to the Impact taping just announced on the same night.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH runs tonight in Richmond, VA and on Saturday night in Charlotte at the Metrolina Tradeshow Expo with Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe; Daniels vs. Castagnoli; Davey Richards vs. Chris Hero; and Homicide vs. El Generico vs. Kenny King vs. Mark Briscoe. More info at www.rohwrestling.com. For anyone in Charlotte this is your chance to see what will be one of the best PRO WRESTLING shows in the Carolinas this year.
Fast Five, the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious series, with Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel hits theaters on 4/29. A trailer is online at http://tinyurl.com/27h3ant. Producer Neal Moritz did an interview this past week confirming plans for a sixth film including a spin-off film for Johnson's new character, Hobbs. He didn't elaborate other than saying the film is at the early stages of development.
Jake Roberts gave a rare interview at www.RingTheBellRadio.com discussing his retirement, cutting promos, finishing moves, his wrestling school, and more.
A-News London in Canada has a story on Jamie Dauncey and her friendship with Superstar Billy Graham. She spent New Years with Graham who has been helping to rejuvenate her wrestling career. Story is at http://tinyurl.com/6xg3b9j.
The Nashville Tennessean at http://tinyurl.com/5r86xku has an article on old pro wrestling quoting Jackie Fargo. He claims in the 1970s he was making $250,000 - $500,000 per year and doesn't recall a show where the building wasn't sold out. "We didn't have the pro sports we have now. Wrestling was kind of that undercurrent sport with some people wondering is it real and others convinced it was very real. It didn't matter. It was a spectacle in its own right … when there was a big match and the Gulas' were involved and the Fargos and those names we jumped on it and got on top of it." Both Jackie and Don Fargo, along with Bobby Eaton, Al Greene, and Gypsy Joe will be appearing at a Nick Gulas memorial Show on Saturday night in La Vergne, TN. They will be signing autographs before the bell.
